Courier Friends to Follow

Donate gifts for needy children

Special to the Courier

POSTED:November 15, 2010 2:33 p.m.

Hinesville recently kicked off this year’s Operation Christmas Child campaign, a project designed to help children in need around the world. First Presbyterian Christian Academy is serving as a collection point for Operation Christmas Child. Soon, with the help of local volunteers, the site will be brimming with gifts. Operation Christmas Child participants collect shoe boxes filled with small toys, educational material and other items for children to be distributed around the world at Christmas time. After collecting them locally, participants take them to relay sites, which then deliver them to a distribution center in Atlanta for packaging and shipping overseas.This year, representatives from the organization say they plan to deliver boxes of gifts to more than 8 million struggling children in 100 countries. Last year, First Presbyterian Christian Academy contributed many boxes to the Operation Christmas Child effort. This year, organizers hope to collect more than 1,133 gift-filled shoe boxes from families, children, churches, schools and civic organizations in the area. Operation Christmas Child uses tracking technology that allows donors to follow their gift boxes to the destination country where it will be hand-delivered to a child in need. To register shoe box gifts and find out what country they are delivered to, use the EZ Give donation form at www.samaritanspurse.org.First Presbyterian Christian Academy is at 308 Court St. in Hinesville. Participants can drop donations off Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from noon-4:30 p.m., on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 a.m.-noon, on Saturdays from noon-3 p.m. and on Sundays from 3-5 p.m. For more information, call 876-0441.